Having locked down the targets of extremely rare abalones with her Water Sense, Alist swept them out of the lagoon and sneakily caught three black and two bright aqua Crystal Abalones which she immediately dumped into her belt bag.

The others have either jumped into the atoll's blue center or remained on the port while using their manipulation abilities to grab the fleeing B-ranked mana vessels.

It takes 5 seconds for them to teleport to whichever side of the water area they alighted then recharge with mana so these can disappear away from the danger zone once again.

For ultra rares, they have 10 seconds of rest and can teleport farther than the lower starred abalones.

Twisted Trapper used his Botanical Link and Plant Manipulation to trap the abalone with the kelps then proceeded to sealing them in seaweed ball traps.

Some Water Specialists became extremely impatient that they emptied the lagoon waters out of the hole, making it advantageous for non-water manipulators.

Savage, who was true to what Shandley described, was experienced Covetor as he instantly casted an Inferno Cage around his chosen area of the waterless deep hole.

He is even used to the backstabbing tricks of his opponent Covetors as they kept attacking to prevent him from getting out of their sights only to realized that they have been splattered with rum and have become inflamed human candles that spread fire bumping into other Covetors.

Swiftest piggy-backed Hypno down to the hole where she assisted her brother by using Botanical Link in directing him to the spots where she showering her stun-induced powders.

Iron Fist's Iron Net was afflicted by some of Savage's fire burns so it was easy for him to suppress his prisoners from teleporting away.

As for Icy, she shamelessly froze the water gathered by the other Water Specialists and placed the chunk of ice into her spatial bag.

Every second counts in this game because after ten minutes, the lagoon will be declared empty because that's how long it takes for the Crystal Abalones in it to leave.

Five minutes passed and there were no sign of red ones.

The ultra rares are intelligent compared to their other kind.

'According to the novel,' Alist analyzed quickly without moving a muscle. "Crystal Abalone are reactant to mana. It is evident from their desire to absorb bits of particularized magical energy and when Covetors use their respective specialisms. You can say that the ultra rares are 5x more reactive to their hunter's mana. Then, let's do this instead.'

She proceeded to activate her Aura Shroud, a concealing skill that hides this determinant of mana so as not to reveal their presence and ill will or killing intent.

Alist blended with the flow of the sea waters, who was now outside of the atoll's deep hole.

At this time, the red ones have already teleported farther away from seaweed-stuffed lagoon with each of them charging up for ten seconds.

She swam up to the coral tower formation and waited like a sniper detecting her targets at long range.

Having insisted herself on becoming one with the sea, she tried sensing the hiding creatures' breath or bubbling.

Alist picked out two signals down the coral tower and four others that are spread exactly north-south-east-west visual.

Since she didn't know the breathing or bubbling patterns of the abalone, she had to gamble which covert creatures to snag first but at the risk of alerting others to run away.

Her surest answer was to snatch the ones below her as they have the same patterns as the other Crystal Abalone.

'Well, here goes nothing.' Alist took a deep breath.

She manipulated the underwater waves in the direction of her chosen targets and materialized the water into that of a human hand as the six precisely clawed out the species.

Alist then pulled the six hands in her direction as forcefully as possible as she scanned them one by one.

She successfully caught the gray and amber abalone which hid below her but the four others were the real problem.

She snagged a harmless Seaweed Eel which was camouflaging in the western kelp patch and threw it far away.

The delicious milkfish she caught just in front of the gray and amber abalone struggled slightly out of her grasp.

That left Alist with the northernmost and easternmost catch which she had the most difficult time of her life with.

She chased after the Red Crystal Abalone that was the size of an adult male wrestler's clenched fist to the east but at the same, she had worry about evading the Cloud Bolt Ray's electric field which she pulled from the north.

Plants aren't the only species you can form a familiar bond contract with as there also intelligent beasts that could, too.

The Cloud Bolt Ray is a B-rank beast that lives solitarily in the shallow parts of the sea with its body buried under the fluffy white sea sand.

An adult ray has a lightning affinity and is prized for its wide electrolocation along with its voltage attacks.

This big ray can grow as wide as the fictional Alladin's magic carpet that the beast itself can become a mount.

Yes indeed, this cloud colored stingray can levitate in the air like a human hover board and its lightning shocks can even work out of the water.

Unfortunately for Alist that even if the ray beast that chased after her is young and undergoing maturity, it is still a B-rank beast which had half of the adult kind's strength.

Alist swerved up-down and left-right from the incoming coral boulders with Water Jet and thrusted her weight towards the escaping Red Crystal Abalone.

Her mana was running out despite being supported by her extremely rare classed abalone crystals and she almost held her in a tight situation.

She only had one shot of capturing the elusive red one which will leave her vulnerably open to the electric field of the Cloud Bolt Ray.

'Shit happens,' Alist groaned. 'There's only one thing to do.'

She then whispered knowing Shandley can hear her.

"Deleer, give me the location of Swiftest and Hypno."

Her friend replied, "Eh? Why do you want to know?"

"Because I need to run into them."

"What?! Victory, you know very well that lightning wins against water. You've got a grudge on them or something? Do you intend to have that Sparky attack you?"

Alist smiled at the rambling.

"No, I ain't got shit on them but I do intend to have that big bro attack in my direction. Just lead me to them already before I lose my mana!"

Shandley hastily compiled. "Okay! Okay! Head to your eight o' clock side and you will see them just floating above the water in Hypno's makeshift lily pad."

Alist thanked her friend in her mind and shot a Water Slash at the fleeing red Crystal Abalone.

She forced the red one to swim up and above the sea which was soaring up to the located lily pad.

Swiftest, who was lying down while her sister played with her concoctions, instantly felt the incoming foe that will crash into the pad from the waters beneath them.

Seeing as he will do a Lightning Strike on her immediately, Alist summoned all her mana into creating the ultimate Water Jet.

"Don't attack me yet. Not yet. Not yet— NOW!" She mouthed.

Alist used her ultimate skill to bump into the red one and trap it in her Water Jet so that no one can see the caught mana vessel.

As she shot out of the sea like a geyser astounding the siblings, the Cloud Bolt Ray followed after as well.

The lightning creature spun its saucer-like body and charged towards its new offenders.

While Swiftest and the young Cloud Bolt Ray viciously sent flashes of white sparks to each other, Alist escaped safely and swam quietly to the floating port.

It is clear that the Covetors are still battling for the Crystal Abalone so she maintained her stance on guard towards potential backstabbers as her mana is heavily depleted.

Luckily, she found Shandley who was sitting next to Era.

'Maybe this isn't a good time to join them.' Alist exhaled.

She still approached them and sat next to Shandley.

"Al— Victory! We saw you flying out of the sea. It turns out you're being chased by the bolt ray. Why didn't you tame it though? That was a B-rank!" Shandley exclaimed.

"I ran out of mana." Alist briefly replied.

"Oh, it's a shame you didn't get it. For sure, Swiftest is going to make it his familiar since it has double affinities for lightning and water. Aside from him, no one is lucky enough to catch a B-rank species. Not even the red ones. Speaking of the red ones, I sensed that Twisted Trapper got one. By the way, what did you get?"

Alist's lips curved into a smile. "Well, I stopped fishing out of the whites, the citrons, the cobalt blues, and other low kind Crystal Abalones so its all the extremely rares for me. And, I was lucky to find this…"

She fished out the milkfish which was about 3 feet long from her belt bag disguised as a spacial item.

"But, it's just a fish." Shandley looked disappointed.

"But its food." Alist argued.

The two friends looked at each other and then laughed.

They talked for a couple of minutes ignoring the commotion made by the other Covetors especially Era who was watching the two until they heard Hanks' closing call.

A soothing yet licentious voice rang out of his mouth. "Ten minutes is up! All Covetors assemble at the Abalone Floating Port. Finders keepers is still the rule."

Many downcast Covetors flocked the circular jetty and some of their sponsors are seen blaming their uselessness for wasting their money.

There were some nobles who were simply entertained by today's competition and even told their secretaries or advisors to inscribe the events that happened.

There were some who weren't disheartened because they got something out of the experience, especially Swiftest who successfully made the Cloud Bolt Ray his familiar which garnered jealous looks from the others.

But there existed one petty tumult that raised everyone's attention; one which seemingly came out from a TV drama.

"Somebody HEEELLLPPP!" A woman shouted. "He tried to rape me even after catching the red one. It is clear that he also wanted to catch me!"

Alist turned to the commotion and was seethed with anger.

The so-called victim and the suspected rapist happened to be Icy and Twisted Trapper.

Although the absolute rule of the game is finders keepers, distorted chivalry can always come into play.

It is clear to Alist that what she was now seeing is a green tea bitch that popped out of a Chinese Webnovel.

"Arbiter! Arbiter! Please have pity on Icy. She deserves a compensation", shouted a chivalrous gentleman.

"Yes! Yes! Women deserved to be treated well. Surrender your catch to the lady, commoner!", shouted another.

The shouting continued until the favor was on Icy's side.

The Water Specialists whose catch were snatched by Icy wanted to protest but they were just lowborns in Darya who had no voice against the nobles.

Alist could see Twisted Trapper summoning an intense Mana Release which was a sign that he chose the life-and-death match with these accusers.

'It seemed that Trapper's dream of staying in Darya is futile.' She thought in her head which was struck heavily.

As Twisted Trapper's sparring buddy, she understood that he will be using his ultimate trump card.

A fourth preparation for Alist to go against the Shade Specialists is to spar with a Specialist Mana Monster.

Because the town of Darya is safe from Mana Covetor beasts due to the Red Widows patrolling the whole area, there wasn't any strong beast for her spar with.

Instead, she hunted Mana Fodder creatures.

She dives into the sea and defeat a school of Black Crow Fish to sell them in the town market.

She draws a cart of easily-killed Seaweed Eels whose flesh and actual seaweed scales can be savored on.

She drains out oil from the Scythe-headed Whale which was the size of the Earth's adult blue whale.

Although her accumulation of mana was good, forcefully filling up one's mana plate does not mean it will widen.

True competition lies in her goal: to be a Specialist Fighter.

The battle between a Specialist Mana Covetor and a Specialist Mana Monster can potentially draw each other's strength to stake a claim in the loser's mana.

The same is true when its a battle between Specialist Fighters where you deal with persons instead of creatures.

Seeing that there weren't Mana Monsters for her to fight with, she decided to find Specialist Fighters who were willing to train her.

She luckily received Twisted Trapper's grace.

Their usual sparring sessions were held within the white mangrove forest because of the trump card she'll spar with.